[Chapter-delegates] NEWS RELEASE: Internet Society Calls for Conclusion of Agreement Between US Department of Commerce and ICANN

[Greg Wood]

Hello,
For your reference, the news release below will be publicly  
distributed around 1200 ET US/1600 UTC today.
Sincerely,
-Greg

Internet Society Calls for Conclusion of Agreement Between US  
Department of Commerce and ICANN

Statement supports multi-stakeholder approach and continued progress  
on transparency, inclusiveness, and accountability

Washington, D.C., USA--4 June, 2009--The Internet Society (ISOC), a  
global non-profit organization founded to provide leadership in  
Internet related standards, education and policy, has recommended that  
the Joint Project Agreement between the U.S. Department of Commerce  
and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) be  
concluded on its expiry 30 September, 2009.  The Internet Society  
believes that the continued success of the Internet depends on private  
leadership and the multi-stakeholder governance model.

The Internet Society thanks the United States government for  
fulfilling its responsibilities to the global Internet community as  
set out in its landmark 1998 Policy on the Management of Internet  
Names and Addresses, and submits that the goal of the current  
agreement--transitioning the technical coordination and management of  
the Internet's domain name and addressing system to ICANN--has been  
achieved.

The Internet Society highlighted the government's original view that  
"a private coordinating process is likely to be more flexible than  
government and to move rapidly enough to meet the changing needs of  
the Internet and of Internet users. The private process should, as far  
as possible, reflect the bottom-up governance that has characterized  
development of the Internet to date."

"The Internet Society strongly believes that ICANN must focus on its  
role as steward of the shared public resource that is the domain name  
system within the multi-stakeholder model," said Lynn St. Amour,  
Internet Society president and CEO. "The Internet Society is committed  
to playing its part and calls on the United States government to join  
with other stakeholders in support of the evolution of this approach  
after the end of the Joint Project Agreement."

Full text of the Internet Society's comments are available at:

http://www.isoc.org/isoc/media/ISOC-NOI-comments.pdf

About the Internet Society
The Internet Society is a non-profit organization founded in 1992 to  
provide leadership in Internet related standards, education, and  
policy. With offices in Washington, D.C., and Geneva, Switzerland, it  
is dedicated to ensuring the open development, evolution, and use of  
the Internet for the benefit of people throughout the world. More  
information is available at: http://www.isoc.org

Media Contact
Greg Wood
Internet Society
wood at isoc.org
+1-703-439-2145